Flour Tortillas
A Delicious and Versatile Staple of Mexican Cuisine, these easy flour tortillas are soft and tender.
Equipment
- 1 tortilla press *or rolling pin
Ingredients
- ¼ cup shortening (melted) *or lard
- ½ cup plus 3 Tbsp, hot water
- ½ tsp salt
- 1-2 cups all purpose flour * 1 cup then add as much as you need to make a slightly sticky dough. I used about 1.5 cups plus more for dusting
Instructions
- In a medium bowl melt the shortening or lard (if using) and add the hot water and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixing to give you a slightly sticky dough
- wet your hands and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 7-8 minutes until it is smooth. It should still feel slightly tacky, but not sticky
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30-40 minutes to build the gluten and make the dough more elastic. If you don't rest it long enough your dough will spring back or shrink when you try and make the tortillas
- Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and let rest again a further 20 minutes.
- Once rested 20 minutes roll each dough ball lightly in flour then flatten into a disc and either roll out with a rolling pin, or use your tortilla press.
- pre heat your pan in the last 5 minutes so it is very hot. Make sure you hear sizzling and see bubbles form almost immediately. If you don't your pan isn't hot enough yet.
- Once you see a few bigger bubbles, flip the tortillas to cook the other side, remove and cover with a tea towel while you cook the rest.
- Once cool, you can transfer to a plastic storage bag. they will keep on the counter for 2-3 days or fridge for a week.